We rate at 94% customer satisfaction

7 days ago Thu 14th Mar 2019

We are extremely proud to be able to announce that we achieved a huge increase in customer satisfaction in the current Bus Passenger Survey from Passenger Focus - with our satisfaction rating now standing at 94%.

sixth in the country

The rating of 94% in the national independent survey has given the us our joint highest score to date and see us ranked sixth overall in the country.

Our rating was up by six percentage points over last year when the survey took place during a number of road works and road closures on key routes which affected journey times and punctuality.

about the survey

The annual survey, undertaken by Transport Focus, the independent transport user watchdog, asks bus customers their opinions on their journey and the latest was the seventh in which we have taken part.

Every year we listen to what our customers say and use the results to help us make changes to make their journeys even better.

Eight hundred and fourteen customers were surveyed and their responses indicated improvements in punctuality and journey time, though we hear that you are saying that congestion and traffic jams – particularly in the morning peak - are still affecting your journeys.

The findings indicated there had been improvements in satisfaction with punctuality – up eight percentage points to 81% - and journey time by seven percentage points to 89%.

We always seek to work alongside local authorities and utilities to plan for known roadworks. We go the extra mile by re-deploying resources when emergency roadworks or abnormal congestion occurs to help you get to where you need to go.

We keep you up-to-date through social media and our app helps you know where your bus is with live tracking. All of this helps to make planning a journey easier by bus.

value for money

The survey found that value for money had increased for the second year in a row – up from 66% to 71%.

This cements our reputation as having some of the lowest fares in the UK. The improvement recognises our work over the past year during which we’ve improved the range of tickets on our app as well as extended Boost, our under-18 fares scheme.

Age 16-34 customers had a six percentage point increase in satisfaction showing the work done with Boost by listening to customers to extend it to all students at the University of Reading and University of West London, Reading Campus.

speedy boarding - but a smooth drive

Using technology, we have speeded up boarding, which has reduced customer dissatisfaction with boarding time – an eight percentage point improvement. And waiting too long at stops had shown a four percentage point improvement.

We also saw an improvement in driving with smoothness and freedom of jolting increasing from 80% to 83% and taking us into the top 10 of Unitary Authority areas for driving style.

Whilst we are rightly proud of our scores for this year, we do know we still have more work to do. We will be looking at what you have said in this survey to help make even more improvements to our services.